Only time will tell if Kristina, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's overly lengthy if often beautiful pop opera about a group of 19th-century Swedes emigrating to America, will ever get a full-blown English language production. But even so, the show's current concert staging at Carnegie Hall (concluding tonight) might be the ideal format for those who want to experience this singular work.

For one thing, no commercial staging could accommodate the enormous American Theatre Orchestra, led by the brilliant Paul Gemignani, who bring out the full colors in the lush, string-heavy (and ballad-heavy) score -- which is periodically reminiscent of the pair's well-known musical Chess and only occasi[...]